Marine and Maritime Collaborative Research and Development Project (UK)

Innovate UK, part of UK Research and Innovation, will work with Cornwall Council, Plymouth City Council and Dorset Local Enterprise Partnership to invest up to £3 million in innovation projects.

This funding is from Innovate UK’s Launchpad programme. The Launchpad programme supports the UK government’s goals in the Levelling Up White Paper.

The projects will contribute to the Great South West’s ambitions for net zero targets and support for key regional strategic marine and maritime markets.

The businesses will use the funding to grow their innovation activities in the cluster, both during and after the project.

Specific Themes

• Your project can focus on one or more of the following theme areas:
  • Monitoring and Autonomy
    • Developing or using disruptive technologies to replace traditional ship-based alternatives for equipment inspection and other marine monitoring operations and enhance safety of the seas, such as in the offshore renewable energy industry.
  • Clean Maritime
    • Transitioning to alternative fuel powered vessels using energy from low or zero emission sources or highly efficient batteries, also integrating ports into a decarbonised energy network and supplying the fuels of the future.
  • Digital Ocean Technology
    • Advancing sensor and communication technology and their connectedness and interoperability, to enhance the understanding of the ocean and the impacts from offshore operations, including in aquaculture and the emerging ocean economy.

Funding Information

• They have allocated up to £3 million to fund innovation projects across the two strands of this Launchpad competition for the Great South West.
• Your project’s total grant funding request must be between £150,000 and £750,000.

Ineligible Projects 

• They are not funding projects that:
  • do not contribute to innovation activity in the marine and maritime cluster in the Great South West
  • require approval from the Marine and Coastguard Agency (MCA) for testing in an operational marine environment within the duration of the project
  • are led by a business that led a successful application to the Great South West Launchpad Round 1 CR&D competition
  • request grant funding of less than £150,000 or more than £750,000
  • do not meet the competition eligibility or scope requirements
  • request funding for primary production in fisheries, aquaculture or agriculture
• They cannot fund projects that are:
  • dependent on export performance, for example, giving a subsidy to a baker on the condition that it exports a certain quantity of bread to another country
  • dependent on domestic inputs usage, for example, giving a subsidy to a baker on the condition that it uses 50% UK flour in their product

Who can apply?

• Your project
  • Your project must:
    • have a grant funding request of between £150,000 and £750,000
    • last between 6 and 18 months
    • carry out all of its project work in the UK
    • intend to exploit the results from or in the UK
    • not start before 1 April 2025
    • end by 30 December 2026
• Lead organisation
  • To lead a project your organisation must:
    • be a UK registered business of any size
    • be or involve at least one micro, small or medium-sized enterprise (SME)
    • collaborate with other UK registered organisations
    • be growing your innovation activities in the marine and maritime cluster in the Great South West
    • have a demonstrable ambition for business growth
• Project team
  • To collaborate with the lead, your organisation must be one of the following UK registered:
    • business of any size
    • academic institution
    • charity
    • not for profit
    • public sector organisation
    • research and technology organisation (RTO)
    • Non-funded partners
    • Your project can include partners that do not receive any of this competition’s funding, for example non-UK businesses. Their costs will count towards the total eligible project costs.
• Subcontractors
  • Subcontractors are allowed in this competition.
  • Subcontractors can be from anywhere in the UK and you must select them through your usual procurement process.
  • All subcontractor costs must be justified and appropriate to the total project costs.
• Number of applications
  • A business can only lead on one CR&D application but can be included as a collaborator in any number of applications. Any subsequent applications submitted with the same project lead will be ineligible and will not be forwarded for assessment.
  • If an organisation is not leading any application, it can collaborate in any number of applications.
  • You are not eligible to apply to this Round 2 CR&D competition if you led a successful application to the Great South West Launchpad Round 1 CR&D competition.
  • If you apply to the Minimal Financial Assistance strand of this competition, as well as this CR&D strand, each project must be clearly distinctive and separate. They will monitor closely for this separation if you are awarded funding in both competition strands.

For more information, visit Innovate UK.